Well, we’ve just about made it through June, and I’m over halfway through my Big Eats adventure. I’ve conquered quite a bit of the low hanging fruit…the stuff that’s close to my house, easy to pick up, and near my office…

It’s on to the tougher part of the challenge…a little more coordination required, venturing to further parts of the city, reservations and such…

But I am determined to carry on, and loving every bite of it! Here are the nine eats I checked off the list this month…

June had a few highlights…like the langos at Bar Tartine, a fried potato flatbread that’s drizzled with sour cream and fresh dill..uh huh! And I loved the unique and satisfying burger from 4505 Meats, with the tangy secret sauce and sesame laden bun.

But I must say, the real treat this month was getting a taste of the Benwaffles at Bar Jules. Benwaffles are the concoction of, Benoit Tordeur, who guest stints at Bar Jules just once a month, churning out his crowd pleasing belgian waffles…or rather I should say “used to” guest stint. When a blessed tweet alerted me of Benoit’s imminent relocation to Hong Kong, I was thankfully able to snag a reservation for his very last day of waffle-making earlier this month. Lucky for us we got a front row seat at the counter to watch Benoit in action. Not only did we get a taste of his sweet waffles, but we got a taste of his sweet personality, and it was not hard to see why he and his waffles are so loved.

Thank you so much to all the awesome friends who joined me for a night of volunteering at the San Francisco Food Bank last night! Our group was tasked with breaking down huge bags of rice into one pound bags that will be delivered to neighborhood pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior centers, and youth centers throughout the Bay Area. In two short hours, we processed a whopping 3,400 pounds of rice that will serve 12,000 people. Amazing!!

Have you ever eaten crickets? Do you think you ever would? I have to admit, I’ve never had them before…but I am certainly intrigued to give them a try them after learning about the new business venture of my good friend, Dan O’Neill.

Dan has joined forces with former roommate and fellow co-founder, Pat Crowley, to launch a totally revolutionary food concept, Chapul, the “first cricket energy bar”. That’s right, their protein bars are made with a special flour comprised of baked crickets, which are ground into a fine powder.

Now, you may ask why you would go and eat crickets when there are lots of yummy proteins lining the shelves of your local grocery store. I wondered the same thing, and I was surprised to learn that crickets offer a ton of benefits that I was never aware of…like they’re packed with protein, and the farming of crickets is much more friendly to the environment than that of livestock. Also, can you believe that 80% of the world already consumes insects on a regular basis? Who knew!

Check out this video to learn more about Chapul and to catch a glimpse of Dan feeding protein bars to happy eaters at a recent event in LA. You can also help Dan and team get their business off the ground by contributing to their Kickstarter Campaign, which is accepting funding until July 3rd!

I made my contribution and now patiently await the arrival of my Chapul bars

to see what this cricket business is all about. I will be sure to let you all know how they taste!

I love me some good ol’ fashioned Americana tourism. The more weird and wonderful, the better. And the great thing is, you usually don’t have to venture too far from home to find something pretty cool to discover in this great country of ours.

Case in point…Mercer Caverns. As we were exploring Murphys over the weekend, I spotted a sign for this curious attraction, and I knew I had to check it off of my list of “things to do in Murphys before you die”. In fact, I’m pretty sad that it’s taken me multiple trips to Murphys before I finally made it here…

After purchasing tickets, here is where we gathered to await our tour.

It’s hard to do justice with the pictures, but down those stairs (16 stories down to be exact) exists a fascinating underground world of stalactites and stalagmites…Mother Nature’s intricate handiwork of literally millions of years.

It reminded Kevin of Superman’s ice castle, and it reminded me of this…